Rustic Food Custom Catering prepares all menu items at our state of the art catering kitchen in Clifton, New Jersey. All of our food, including all of our desserts and baked goods, are freshly prepared for your event. Rustic Food Custom Catering avoids pre-fabricated, frozen and processed products. We are committed to using whole ingredients, fresh produce & herbs, real cream, butter & eggs, pure honey and maple syrup and the quality imported specialty items.

Rustic Food Custom Catering cultivates herbs, tomatoes, peppers, squash, eggplant, beets, leeks, shallots & edible flowers in season in our on-site garden. We employ organic methods without the use of pesticides, herbicides or chemical fertilizers. Our plant and seed stock are obtained from organic nurseries in New Jersey and Oregon.

Rustic Food Custom Catering has catered thousands of events of all sizes, throughout New Jersey and metro New York. We retain our own in-house staff of chefs, waiters and bartenders, most of who have been associated with Rustic Food Custom Catering since its inception in 2001. From set-up to service to clean up, our professional staff does it all!

Elaine Rust, President/Executive Chef

Elaine has been a culinary professional since 1983. She has held back-of-the-house positions at The Griswold Inn in Essex, CT, The Dock at Saybrook Point in Old Saybrook, CT and The Gelston House in East Haddam, CT.

She served as Sous Chef at The Sovereign in Branford, CT under Chef Mark Baker and became Executive Chef at Hot Tomato's in New Haven in 1986. During her tenure, Hot Tomato's was awarded "Very Good" designation by the New York Times Connecticut edition and was voted "Best Italian Restaurant" by the New Haven Advocate Reader's Choice Poll in 1987 and 1988.

Elaine has held numerous food service executive and kitchen management positions, including banquet coordination and production, at Patzo in NYC, Madison Square Bistro in Hoboken, Arthur's Landing in Weehawken and Tomato's in San Diego, California. She catered for private clients while working in financial services until the inauguration of Rustic Food in 2001.